 At one time Holmesville was a rather thriving village with a district school, two stores, a grist-mill, a saw, shingle and planing mill, a cheese factory (built in 1861), a cheese factory, two shoe shops (kept by Smith O. Dexter and Harvey Isbell), a blacksmith shop, kept by Watson Woodworth, two wagon shops (kept by Harmon Hopkins and George Sherman), two cabinet shops (kept by Richard Hunt and Horatio G. Littlefair), a cooper shop, kept by John Lamphier, and a population of 168.The first merchant at Holmesville was Waterman Fields, a native of the town, whose father came from Rhode Island among the first settlers and located two miles west of New Berlin.Waterman Fields built his store in 1833, on the site of the store once occupied by Martin A. Burlingame.